


Fables of the Little King

by Marvelgeek42



Series: The Little King [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV), Supernatural
Genre: Alien Regulus Black, Alien Sirius Black, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angel Regulus Black, Assassin Regulus Black, Boggart Regulus Black, Centaur Regulus Black, Character Turned Into Vampire, Collection of AUs, Dark!Regulus, Dementor Regulus Black, Demon Regulus Black, Depression, Dragon Regulus Black, Dragon Sirius Black, Fairy Regulus Black, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genie Regulus Black, Ghost Regulus Black, Ghoul Regulus Black, God Regulus Black, House Elf Regulus Black, I invented a pantheon, I made up an alien race, Implied Sexual Content, Incubus Regulus Black, Inferius Regulus Black, Leprechaun Regulus Black, Leprechaun Sirius Black, Lethifold Regulus Black, M/M, Regulus-centric, Siren Regulus Black, Siren Remus Lupin, The previous two are the same one, Time Lord Regulus Black, Troll Regulus Black, Veela Regulus Black, Werewolf Regulus Black, Zombie Regulus Black, character turned into werewolf, like seriously, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-08-27 14:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 16,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8406172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelgeek42/pseuds/Marvelgeek42
Summary: Regulus Black is anything but human. This is the only thing that stays the same.





	1. Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merman!Regulus

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest and turned into the other direction. "No, Sirius! This is a stupid idea and I am not doing it. End of discussion."

"Come on, Reggie! You're no fun!" His older brother swam around him until he could look into his face and did his best seal eyes. "All of my friends are doing it!"

"And if all of them swim towards a smack of jellyfish, you'll follow them, I guess?" he pushed his brother out of the way. "Besides, none of them are the crown prince. You have a duty to the kingdom! You can't just go to the surface! It's dangerous! You might die!"

He started to swim in the direction of their palace, but Sirius quickly caught up with him and blocked his way.

"We can't just sit here and wait for a killer whale! I want to live before I die! It's the only thing that makes any sense! Also, it's not that dangerous; we used to do it all the time as kids! Don't you remember all those times we snuck away and watched the humans travelling on their silly… what were they called again?" Sirius frowned and watched as a school of dolphins passed them. A few of the pups swam a few meters in their direction and did a few loop-de-loops before continuing their journey.

"Ships," Regulus offered hesitatingly, "They are called ships."

"Yes! Exactly!" Sirius twirled around, full of joy. "Don't miss it too?"

"Miss what? The constant lectures from mother and father? The terrible brightness? The trouble to breathe, perhaps?" Regulus snorted. "No, I can't say I miss any of it."

He didn't know what kind of reaction he expected from his brother. Sadness, perhaps. Or maybe anger. But he certainly didn't expect him to start smiling.

"Now I know you're lying!" Sirius declared. "You loved the music of those animals—I think they were called birds? The sound of the waves. And you loved to watch humans do….whatever it is that they do in those odd thing on their ships. You always watched them for hours and only rarely beneath the surface. You're lying and you miss it."

Regulus was stunned. He all the things that his brother had mentioned were but a fading memory in his mind. It had been so long ago.

"Maybe I do," he allowed. "But did you forget that humans _eat fish_?"

"So do dolphins and tuna. And no one's talking about excluding them in any way," his brother pointed out. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Alright," he conceded eventually. "But only because someone needs to make sure you don't accidentally get yourself killed and leave me a the only heir."

"Isn't that always your job?" Sirius grinned as he sped upwards.

"Well someone has to do it!" Regulus yelled as he raced after his brother.

If one considered that it were only a couple of kilometers—around three or so—from the surface, it was quite the eventful journey. Not only did they meet their old, hated teacher, but they also met a blue whale, a floating...something (it was a small object. Round and golden), and Sirius swore he even saw a killer whale in the distance.

Sirius suddenly stopped and pointed over his head. "Is that a human?!"

"Impossible. We're too far from the surface," Regulus quickly denied. Then, however, he followed Sirius glance. "...Holy anemonia, I think it might be!"

Without another second of hesitation, his brother shot forward, towards the possibly human.

"Wait up!" Regulus yelled as he struggled to follow.

Within seconds, they had found the floating human.

"What do we do know?" the younger prince questioned as he observed his brother poking the responseless human.

"I don't think he's breathing," Regulus stated after a few seconds.

"Quick! We need to get him to the surface!"

Each brother grabbed a hand and rushed to the surface, moving their grey tails as fast as they could manage. Regulus didn't even know why he was doing it, and yet he couldn't imagine ever choosing a different option in this situation.

Time passed agonizingly slow, every single second seemed to last longer than the one before.

But then, finally, he felt his head passing from the water into the dry air; joined by his brother and the human in the very same second.

They waited for the human to wake up, but he didn't do anything. After a few seconds, Sirius hit the human's stomach.

Somehow, it worked.

The human's eyes opened and he coughed up some of water.

Once he was done, he started to scan his saviours. He saw their gills and their ears that were eerily similar to the fins of some fish he had seen. He saw their scaled hands and torsos.

Regulus freaked out. Any second now, the human would try to kill him.

Only he didn't. And even odder, his next words were the following. "Thank you for saving my life."

"You're welcome." Sirius smiled at the human. "What were you doing there anyways? I've never seen a human that far down before and based on how you weren't responding it's not good for you."

"My ship, my people abandoned me. They left me to die. They threw me overboard. I swam for a while—I don't know how long—but eventually my strength left me."

"Why would you ever do something like this?" Regulus exclaimed in shocked horror.

The human shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know. I must have done something they don't like. I'm Remus by the way."

"Regulus," he muttered in response.

His brother on the other hand pulled the human into a hug. "My name is Sirius Black, crown prince of Atlantis."

Remus' eyes almost doubled in size and he began to stutter nonsense, causing Sirius to laugh.

Regulus cleared his throat.

The other two looked at him.

"I hate to destroy the moment here, believe me, but do either of you have any plans how to proceed?"

Going by their expressions, neither had any ideas.

Great.


	2. Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inferi!Regulus

Regulus' day didn't start different from any other day.

Cold, dark, and wet.

He had long since lost track of how much time had passed; it was an impossible task without being able to leave the lake—never mind the cave—he was trapped in.

Somehow, he had expected that his afterlife would be different. Dining together in Valhalla, eternal punishment in Tartarus, anything but _this_. At this point he had almost convinced himself that he would prefer the Cruciatus Curse to this monotony.

As usual, he kept himself near the bottom of the lake. he did not particularly desire to speak with the other Inferi—even if he wondered who they might have been in their lives. Morgana, he didn't even know if he could communicate anymore.

He had never tired. Not once in however-long-he-had-been-here.

There was simply no point in it. He just wanted to suffer alone, was that so much to ask?

Oh, how he wished he had taken anyone with him. Barty, Severus, Sirius, sweet Merlin, even Potter could have helped him. Taking any just one other person with him might have saved his life and prevented him from this.

But he didn't. He didn't because he was fully aware that they would not be able to trust him and vice versa. Not to forget that boat.

Regulus had claimed his usual place at the very bottom of the lake, between two giant stones. It was a rare occasion that he left it, usually when he wanted to give himself the impression he was still somewhat human and pretended that his back had started hurting.

Of course he had long since stopped to feel anything. He was pretty sure that he would still be able to feel extreme pain, but he didn't really have the opportunity to test it.

Something was different today. He did not know what it was, but all the others here seemed to be filled with some wicked form of excitement. There was someone here. Someone they could destroy. And the worst thing was, he could feel the same rising in him. Despite all the effort he spent resisting it, Regulus was becoming one of them. It was simply a matter of time, unavoidable.

When all the other Inferi moved towards the surface, he followed them, carefully keeping a distance of a couple of metres. He almost didn't but the urge was just a bit too strong to ignore.

Then, almost twenty minutes later, It happened. The thing that changed him, that made him just one Inferius of many.

The person that was here had taken water from the lake. From _their_ lake. They could not do that. It was not their lake, it was the lake of the Inferi. Of _his_ Inferi.

He had to protect the lake, the island, and the locket—there was something the matter with the locket. Something important, but the Inferius couldn't remember.

It could not be that important.

It was not that important.

It was irrelevant.

They just needed to make the human one of them.


	3. Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampire!Regulus

Regulus Black looked directly in the vampire's eyes. “And you swear you are going to help me?”

“Of course,” Sanguini promised. “We always help the newborn.”

“Yes, but normally that means the change of diet, what to avoid, and other ways to stay alive.”

The vampire chuckled. “Helping you stay alive during that mission is not a part of that, in your opinion?”

Regulus glared at the vampire and crossed his eyes over “I am a Slytherin, a Black, and a Death Eater. I know that people don't always mean what they say, so I need you to swear it.”

“Good thinking, little human. That will help you after I have turned you.” Sanguini chuckled. “I, Sanguini Abbandonato, swear on my undead life that I will not allow Regulus Arcturus Black to come to any harm I can protect him from during the next seven years. So more it be.”

Despite Sanguini not being a wizard, he still has magic flowing through his veins. Thus we was engulfed by a bright life for a couple of seconds.

“Is that enough for you, piccolo re?”

Regulus took a deep breath.

“Yes,” he said before he closed his eyes.

It did not help. The imagine of Sanguini's smirk was still clear in his head.

“Buono.”

Regulus felt the vampire's head move towards his throat and forced himself to keep calm, to stay here.

Then he felt the other man's fangs pierce through his skin.

He did not collapse with a scream of pain, but he was pretty close

* * *

The transformation took three days filled constant and near unbearable pain, but Regulus managed.

He had been under the Crucio so often that he not only lost count but was beginning to develop a tolerance.

He knew pain.

He knew this would be over.

He knew he would fell better, would be stronger and faster when this was done.

And he knew that this would be a great help in his vain attempt to stop the Dark Lord.

So he dealt with it.

* * *

Regulus did need some time to get used to the many changes he had gone through, but he adapted remarkably fast.

After all it was still him, just with a few upgrades, one of which just happened to be a constant need for blood.

It was not even close to half as bad as his mother had always told him.

A month later they were able to move onto the next step.

* * *

The cave was no problem for the two of them.

They already knew where both the cave itself and the entrance were located and the blood toll was far from an issue.

As it turned out, Voldemort had not included vampires in his safety charms, so both of them were able to sit in the boat at the same time, although Sanguini could have flown. But he was nothing if not patient.

“I can drink it,” Regulus offered after he had explained the way the potion worked.

Sanguini shook his head. “No, you won't. Watch.”

He took out a small goblet and filled it in the basin, but instead of moving it towards his lips, he simply turned the goblet upside down. The potion dripped on the floor of the island.

“Wizards tend to ignore common sense. It's time that I teach you what that means.”

Within minutes the basin was empty.

* * *

 

A couple of months later Regulus and Sanguini managed to sneak into a meeting of the Marauders—and that was one of the hardest things

the two of them had done so far. They would have gone with the Order, but that organisation turned out to have proper security, no doubt thanks to Alastor Moody.

“Hello,” Sanguini greeted as they stepped out of the shadows.

Every wand in the room was pointed at them in that very instant.

“I applaud your caution, but believe it or not, we're here to help.”

“...Regulus? Is that you?” Sirius asked incredulously.

“Is that your brother you told me so much about, piccolo re?” Sanguini questioned.

Regulus gave his brother a big smile, careful to show his fangs. “Yes, brother, it's me. Did you miss me?”

James stepped in front of both Sirius and Evans—or Potter now if he took her pregnant stomach into consideration.“Listen here, I don't know what your plan is, but I-”

“We are here to deliver these,” Sanguini interrupted, emptying his pockets.

The locket, a small golden cup with a badger on it, a tiara in blue and silver, a little black diary, and a ring with a missing stone.

“Those,” Regulus explained to the stunned Marauders (and Evans-Potter), “used to be the Dark Lord's horcruxes. If you don't already know what they are you probably don't want to know. To the best of our knowledge the only piece left of his soul is the one in his current body. He should be mortal again.”

Without another word, the two vampires left the house to start their next project, leaving the other occupants to wonder what had just happened.

 


	4. Protector

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House Elf!Regulus

“Reg! Come here!” Marvolo Gaunt bellowed to his young house elf, the only thing that was left of his family's fortune.

With a pop, Regulus appeared in front of his master. He bowed. “Yes, Master? How can Reg help you?”

“Keep that stupid whore out of my way! And don't even think about leaving the house! That goes for both of you!” Master ordered, pushing little Merope in the elf's direction, before returning his attention to Morfin and continuing to teach him their family lineage.

Regulus bowed again, just a bit deeper than before. “Yes, Master.” He took Merope's hand and quickly moved out of the room. Master thought he was still spending as much time as possible away from the house, but Regulus was no longer doing this. He needed to protect Merope.

“But Reggie, me want Daddy!” the four-year-old cried as soon as they were out of her father's hearing range, save inside her room, the room that had once been her mother's all the way back when she and her brother—Merope's father—were children. As young as she was, she already knew not to argue with her father.

“Reg knows, Little Mistress, Reg knows,” he assured her. “But Master does not wish to be disturbed. Reg can read little Mistress a story if she wishes.”

Merope sniffed. “Yes, please, Reggie.”

“As Little Mistress wishes.” He smiled at her as he bowed, causing her to giggle.

“Which story does Little Mistress want to hear?”

“You chose, Reggie,” she ordered.

Reg chose  _ Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump _ . He knew Master preferred  _ The Tale of the Three Brothers _ , but Master had never ordered him not to read the other ones, so he did not need to punish himself.

Merope always loved it when he read to her and it did not take long until she was asleep.

* * *

A decade and a half later, Merope Gaunt was attempting to brew a love potion for her neighbor, Tom Riddle.

“Miss Merope? Reg does not think this is a good idea.” It was not that he didn't think she was not worth him, more that he doubted any of the ingredients she was using should be used and the fact that she did not seem to notice.

He did not

“But how else could I get Tom to love me?”

“Let Reg try first please, Miss Merope.”

Eventually, she nodded in approval.

* * *

Maybe permanently blinding Tom Riddle was not nice, but Miss Merope might accidentally kill him. And that would hurt her.

Regulus needed to protect her from that, so Tom Riddle had to learn to love her.

He valued appearances too much for it to work any other way.

Regulus waited until Tom Riddle was alone and near their home to work his magic. Now that Master and Young Master Morfin were in Azkaban, there was no reason why it should not work.

And it did.

* * *

“Reg, could you please look after Tommy and Jasmine? Tom’s parents are coming in a few minutes and I have to get ready,” Merope requested. “I don’t want to disappoint them, not now when they have finally started to accept me.”

“Whatever Miss wants,” Regulus replied with a smile on his face.

Four-year-old Jasmine instantly latched onto him. “Reggie! Can you read  _ Babbity Rabbity  _ for me?”

Tommy, her older brother by two years looked equally enthusiastic about the story. Both children loved the tale and there was no reason not to read it to them.

Regulus smiled the entire time he told the story. He would never stop protecting this family.


	5. Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Werewolf!Regulus

Regulus Black needed his brother. Of course he was a Slytherin and a fourteen-year-old boy, so he would never say it out.

Unless he was paid for it, but then it would be followed by revenge.

The point being, Regulus was missing his brother. Which was why he had decided to look for him and his friends.

It should not be hard to find them, after all, they usually were some of the—if not the—loudest inhabitants of the castle.

It turned out to be harder than expected. For over two hours he searched the castle and even got one Gryffindor to tell him that they weren't in the common room.

He was just about to give up when he saw Lupin—just Lupin, none of the other 'Marauders', as they had started to call themselves a couple of months ago—being walked towards the entrance hall. Regulus quickly hid in a different corridor and muttered a tempus charm.

It was already past curfew. Why would Madam Pomfrey be leading him outside at this time?

Regulus decided to follow him.

He inched towards the corner and immediately pulled his head back when he saw the other Marauders.

Why weren't they with their friends? Why were they just following him and not with him? What was going on here?

"-st. We might be seen," Potter whispered.

"And whose fault is that? I'm not the one who misplaced the cloak!" Sirius muttered.

"Quiet!" Peter admonished them.

Once they had moved past the corridor he was hiding in, Regulus moved to pursue them; he was curious now.

It was cold outside—of course it was. It was only March and they were in Scotland—but that did not stop him, even if he definitely wasn't dressed for this.

His brother, Potter and Pettigrew did not seem to have similar problems, so this was obviously not a spur of the moment decision. It was still odd to see the three of them so quiet, not goofing around, making jokes or anything. They were just silently walking next to each other.

They were moving in the direction of the Whomping Willow. Why would they possibly be moving in that direction?!

The tree stilled for Pomfrey and Lupin and Regulus realized that there was some sort of trick to do that. Lupin had most likely told his friends who were walking a couple of metres away from the path in an attempt to avoid being seen. If he wanted to know what was going on, he needed to see that trick.

Regulus hurried to catch up to was quite hard without making noise or being seen by Madam Pomfrey who was moving back towards the castle, especially since the full moon was slowly rising and lightening the grounds, but somehow he achieved his goal.

There was some sort of knot that you needed to press if you wanted the tree to stop and there was a tunnel underneath.

Regulus waited for another minute after all Marauders had disappeared into the tunnel before he, too, entered it.

It was small and dark. He couldn't stand upright, so he crawled, most likely ruining his robe in the process, but it was nothing a few spells wouldn't fix.

He did not know how long he was moving along the tunnel, although it could not be more than twenty minutes or so, when he heard the voices of the Marauders.

"-nk it would be the best if we got back out. The tunnel isn't exactly large enough for anyone but Wormtail." It must have been Potter who said that, but his voice was muffled by something.

"I-I believe it might be a bit late for thaaaaargh!" Remus screamed, obviously in pain.

"Morgana be damned. Right guys, we better transform then," Sirius advised.

Transform, what?

Regulus peaked around the corner of the tunnel. There were stairs leading up to a trapdoor. He opened it a few centimetres. When he saw nothing, he climbed through it, closed it again, and spotted a door to a second room.

The screams of pain did not stop while he moved towards it, but it was accompanied by strange sounds the Slytherin could not place. It almost sounded as if there were bones breaking, but that was impossible, wasn't it?

Finally, after a couple minutes of agonizing screams, the noises stopped.

Instead, there was a howl.

A howl.

On a full moon night.

In a secure location.

Meant to be away from others.

Sweet Morgana, he was in trouble! Lupin was a werewolf! The Marauders must have found some way to protect themselves, but Regulus had nothing.

He spun around and tried to open the trapdoor, but it was to no avail. It seemed to be spelled to only open from one side or something. He was doomed.

The wolf—Lupin—had long since smelled him and was now running towards him, towards the prey. A couple of other animals—the Marauders?—moved towards him, attempting to drag the wolf away, but it was already too late.

He had been bitten.

* * *

The next thing Regulus actually comprehended was the Marauders talking among themselves.

"-ry Sirius."

"He shouldn't have been here. Why was he here?"  
"Why did I have to misplace the cloak? I bet he saw us and followed."

"What do we do now?"

"I think he's waking up!"

He opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of all for Marauders standing around him. All of them seemed to be bleeding, just like he was himself.

"I am so so sorry, Regulus," Lupin spoke. It sounded like he was just barely stopping himself from crying. "I told them it was a stupid idea. I told them they should just leave me alone here. I shouldn't even be here in the first place! Dumbledore should never have allowed me here."

He remembered. Lupin was a werewolf.

And now he was one too.

* * *

When Madam Pomfrey came to collect Remus, the Marauders were hiding in the other room. They had decided—and by they Regulus meant himself—to tell Madam Pomfrey that he had followed her and Remus like he had originally planned.

It wasn't their fault. They should not suffer from his mistakes.

* * *

His parents were flooed and they instantly disowned him. Once Sirius heard, he disowned himself, but they agreed to keep it quiet and make up some reason why they disowned him.

It wouldn't do to have a werewolf in the family, after all.

* * *

Regulus felt his speed, strength and stamina as well his senses increase.

So there was at least _something_ good out of this. If nothing else it would help him spot the Snitch.

Yeah, not as funny as he wanted it to be.

* * *

He distanced himself from his old friends and turned towards the Marauders. The former would never accept him, the latter had already done so.

It also helped with the story that both brothers had been disowned for being blood traitors.

He did not regret it when they never tried to speak with him, never tried to convince him to stay their friend.

* * *

A month later, both Regulus and Remus were walked towards the Shrieking Shack by Madam Pomfrey.

* * *

Potter's parents were insane.

They had to be, if they willingly accepted him and Sirius inside their home in full knowledge of what he was when he wasn't even their son.

He told them.

Their response was adopting him and Sirius.

Insane, just like he has said.

* * *

His life had changed a lot that evening. In some ways for the worse, but also for the better.

He had reconnected with Sirius and had found real friends and family that accepted him the way he was.

In the end Regulus Potter—once, in another life, he had been Regulus Black—was happy with the way everything had turned out.


	6. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lethifold!Regulus

Regulus glided passively through the dark night. The Lethifold let himself blow in the wind until he reached the next village. He had to do this. He was too hungry to do anything else. He needed to eat something, some _ one _ .

Once he had reached the village—very small and just barely outside the rainforest—he took control of his movements.

Time to look for food.

The small villages were always the hardest, not because he needed to consume a lot, but because it was highly likely he could not be picky.

He didn’t know if all Lethifolds did it or if he was alone in that—he had yet to meet another member of his species—but he did not just eat anyone.

The first house was instantly dismissed. It was a family with several small children. He did not consume parents unless he could avoid it, but not children. Never children.

That was his most important rule. The only one he was not willing to bend. They always had a live and a destiny ahead of them and who was he to take it?

Regulus moved to the next houses. A pregnant woman and her husband. A pair of newly orphaned siblings. Newlyweds. None of them would work.

All of them were young. All of them would be missed.

He only used those if there was absolutely no other choice.

It took a while, but eventually he found someone suitable. An old man who had already lost wife and children. He looked old enough that he could not have much more time left either way. And he was eager to see his family again.

The Lethifold placed himself next to the man’s bed and watched his chest rise and fall for a few seconds before he started.

He liked humans. They were such fascinating creatures and he was saddened that he had to reduce their number.

Slowly but surely, he began to move forward. He covered the man’s feet and then inched his way to the man’s head.

He could have done it faster, but he liked to give humans as much time as possible. Regulus didn’t know why. Perhaps  to give them time to finish their dream, perhaps to give them the time to drive him away.

Most likely it was a mix of both.

He now covered the man’s legs.

The Lethifold had not always done it this way. He regretted the time, but it existed. There was a time where he simply consumed the first person he met after he was finished with the previous one.

Then he had watched someone grieve. The first time, it was not even one of his victims. His intended victim had just lost her husband. She was not sleeping when he entered her room, her house. Were it not for her child, she would have thrown herself at him.

But she had a child and she drove him off with some shouted words and a lion consisting only of light.

After that he stuck around in the shadows and watched their reactions, before swearing not to intentionally cause these emotions again.

He had reached the man’s face. Slowly, he moved over the man’s chin, his mouth, and his nose. Regulus felt as the man’s chest stopped. He now covered the man completely.

He hoped the man had sweet dreams, wherever he was now.


	7. Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost!Regulus

Regulus Black has died in that cave. That had been part of the plan.

Because now that he was a ghost and not a man, he could switch sides without being afraid of  the pain. He could spy better than anyone else could. He should even be immune to Legitimacy.

Theoretically, at least.

It wasn’t like it had been tested.

Also, there was the fact that he needed someone to report to. He’d be there anyways, but it would bring his plans of revenge roughly five hundred steps forward.   
Which was why he had sent Kreacher over to Sirius. He figured that if anyone was going to trust him, it would be his brother.

Of course there was also the possibility that he was the least likely to trust him, but he had already spent his entire life as a pessimist, so he might as well be optimistic in his afterlife.

And his brother had at least told Kreacher he would hear Regulus out, so he had a right to be.

He used the time he spent waiting to discover all the nooks where he could never get into before. Being intangible really helped in that aspect.

Sirius arrived just in time to see his brother enter the room through the ceiling.

“Regulus! You’re a ghost!” he exclaimed.

Regulus crossed his near transparent arms. “Yes, thank you very much. I had not noticed that before, which I spent the entire day ignoring the existence of walls.”

His brother just continued to stand there, mumbling nonsense.

It took him a minute to pull himself back together.

“You died!”

The ghost grimaced. “Oh, I see. I thought Kreacher had already told you. Sorry.”

“What happened?”

“I was tracking something from the Dark Lord. One of his horcruxes. I see you remember these delightful little things from mother’s lessons, good.”   
“This is not exactly something you forget easily,” Sirius muttered to himself.

“Agreed. The one I found—yes, the Dark Lord made several, which is quite disgusting—was in a cave somewhere on the coast. More precisely in as stone basin filled with a potion I’m calling Liquid Dementor, on an island in an inferi infested lake. Let’s just say I don’t recommend drowning and leave it like that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see you again—though I would be even happier if you weren’t, you know, dead—but shouldn’t you still be in that cave if you died there?”   
“If I had latched onto that, yes. But I latched onto this house. And even then I would be able to travel. I mean, the Bloody Baron died in Albania and he’s at Hogwarts!”

Sirius swallowed. “Alright. Was that the only reason you called me here? So that I could see you’re dead?”   
Regulus facepalmed. It was still odd to be able to see through his own body—or whatever—but he supposed he would get used to it eventually.“Um, no? I just told you that the Dark Lord made several horcruxes! I get that you’re still in shock, but at least try to think!”

After a couple of seconds, Sirius had formed a vague outline of a plan. “So, we figure out what and where the other horcruxes are and destroy them and the Voldemort’s mortal? Count me in.”

Regulus chuckled. “I expected nothing else from you. Now it is time to get some revenge for all the things he put me through.”


	8. Graveyard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zombie!Regulus

Regulus Black woke up.

Nothing wrong with that by itself.

The problem was that the last thing he remembered happening before right now was him drowning.

So, yeah. A bit not good.

Another thing that did not exactly help his mental stage was that one of his eyelids had a giant hole he could see his clearly decomposing body through.

He was a zombie.

Great.

With some effort, he managed to sit up and look around. Regulus was no longer in the cave. Instead, he was in a graveyard, somewhere. There was a dark cloaked figure between some of the graves that was holding a small bundle and watching a strange cauldron that seemed very out of the place.

He had no idea where exactly, how much time had passed or how he had gotten here.

Even better.

Suddenly there was a pop and several bodies were hitting the floor behind him. Regulus did his best to stand up quickly, but his rotten flesh only allowed slow movements.

Perfect. Just Perfect.

During the long time it took him to stand up, the people that had appeared had already done the same and scanned the area. Now Regulus could hear two voices—both of them had to be younger than he had been before, just kids—talking about some sort of cup and decides to take out their wands. That was a good idea; they should have done that as soon as they got here. But they were just kids. He could not expect this of them.

Regulus had finally managed to stand up and was now making his way to the two of them.

So was the shady figure with the bundle. that could, apparently, talk. "Kill the spare."

Somehow, it must have been a miracle, he had managed to get into the way of the Avada Kedavra.

It did not affect him. He was already dead, after all. Now that he was a zombie he had done something he had never done in his lifetime. He had saved a life.

The shady man whispered furiously—it almost looked as if he was reporting to the bundle and expecting orders, but that could not be the case, could it?—before conjuring ropes that tied both teenage boys to separate gravestones and him to a tree in the distance.

Regulus did his best to hurry back to the scene, but it was impossible to get there in time to do anything. He could only watch as the Dark Lord was resurrected—which at least explained why the young Black was here—using blood of one of the boys; Regulus only knew because Pettigrew —Pettigrew!—spoke the incarnation.

The Dark Lord had returned and he had been just a bit too far away to do anything against it.

Granted, he had no idea what he could have done. Except perhaps jumping inside the cauldron.

"I see our _special visitor_ has also found his way to the scene. Potter, may I introduce Regulus Black? I believe you know his brother?"

Was the Dark Lord introducing him to James Potter? Or was that, somehow, Potter's child? Pettigrew certainly looked old enough for that to be the case.

"You see, I could not simply let those foolish people who tried to get rid of a few special objects of mine die before I was done with them, could I? So I put a stasis charm on the lake that would keep any and all dead bodies close to the surface and in a good condition." The Dark Lord turned away from Potter and looked Regulus dead in the eyes. "Imagine my surprise, when I found you as Wormtail and I were checking on one of them. Shall we start the fun now or would you rather wait for an audience?"

Regulus attempted to talk, but all that came out was a groan.

"Yes, I think a proper audience would be the better choice."


	9. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghoul!Regulus

Grimmauld Place 12, the house of the Black family, had a beautiful attic in Regulus’ opinion.

There were a lot of spiders that served as food, a dark, hidden corner to sleep in and lots of things to throw around as entertainment. They were even charmed not to break, so he could throw them again and again!

It was certainly a nice and relaxing life. Completely alone and undisturbed, just like he liked it.

Until one day his peace was disturbed by the child of the family.

It could not be very old, it had only been six or at most seven years ago when the child had been born and Regulus knew that humans lived longer than that.

The child had somehow found his way up here without the parents noticing. Perhaps it was exploring the house, maybe the sounds caused by the ghoul had made the child curious.

Either way, it was standing in front of him and held his small hand up to him.

Regulus hesitated, but he slowly moved his arm forward to meet the child’s hand.

The child gave him a smile that reached from ear to ear and revealed a few missing teeth as it shook his hand.

“Hello! I’m Sirius! Who are you?”

Regulus answered by groaning his name. Humans rarely—if ever—understood him, but it seemed to be the right thing to do.

“Nice to meet you, Regulus! And what are you?”

The ghoul answered the question, curious to see if the child had really understood him.

“Cool! What do you do for fun up here?” Sirius questioned as he looked around. “Because Mother and Father want me to be quiet while they do something I am not allowed to know about, but that is boring.”

The ghoul smiled.

* * *

Sirius returned many times over the years.

The boy told him everything exciting or annoying that happened in his life. And according to the child’s definition, that seemed to include every little detail of his life.

The attic had become a place to hide for him. A place where he could not hear his parents yelling at each other about the lack of a second child. A place where neither parents could find him to let their anger out at him. A place with a friend.

The attic was Sirius’ favourite place in the house.

* * *

On his eleventh birthday, the kid jumped up and down in excitement. “I got my Hogwarts letter!”

Regulus knew what Hogwarts was. The child had told him many times before. It was a school, a place where young wizards and witches learned how to be just that. Sirius had already been excited for that place years ago.

“That’s great,” the ghoul groaned, but he couldn’t help but feel that it was anything but. He would be alone again. It had been fine before, but now that he knew what friendship meant, that was no longer the case.

Sirius was able to identify the statement as the lie it was. “Don’t worry. I’ll write you, visit you when I’m here, and everything! We’re still friends,” he promised.


	10. Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veela!Regulus

Regulus Black had been taught play with humans as soon as he hit puberty. He was one of the few male Veela which made him highly desirable in his clan.

Many of the others in his age group—using a broad definition—had already set an eye on him. They needed someone to father their children one day and there were not many other choices, so he was taught to practice with humans. It would not do for him to disappoint.

By the time Regulus was nineteen, he already had plenty of practice—and most likely a couple of half-human children with some of the witches.

If he had realized one thing during that time, it was that he actually preferred wizards, or rather males in general. Females were fine, but males were more exciting and attractive. Also, due to him being male, his allure mainly affected the females, so the chance that a male's affection was genuine was significantly higher.

His preference did not matter. It was more important that he did what was expected of him To do as he was told, even if he did not like it.

Regulus liked to stroll through the woods to clear his head. The woods were a nice place to do that; there rarely was anyone but him.

He was in a dire need for that right now, so he hastily left the village.

Just this morning, the village elder had visited their house and enlightened him that he was expected to move to the female veela soon—or there will be consequences went unsaid, because everyone already knew it.

Regulus did not pay any attention as to where he was going. There was no need to; he knew the forest like the back of his hand and could find home from literally anywhere in it.

That caused him to miss the black haired human that crossed his way and bump into him.

“I’m sorry,” the veela apologized. “I didn’t think that there would be anyone else here, so I didn’t really look ahead of me.”

“It’s fine,” the human muttered. “It wasn’t like I fell down or anything. You must have been deep in thought then.”

“You could say that.”

“Relationship issues? That is the main reason why my friend Lily acts like this from time to time.”

“In a sense,” Regulus replied after he thought about it for a few seconds. “My mother—and everyone else, really—expects me to do certain things I do not particularly what to do, but I want to disappoint them even less.”

“I am the wrong person to ask for such matters; anyone will tell you that,” the human stated. “But I can tell you what Lily tells everyone. ‘Love is a matter of the heart. You should not use your head to make decisions for it. Find someone who loves you not only when you are happy, but when you are sad.’ That’s her advice for everyone who had trouble with relationships.”

“Your friend sounds very wise,” Regulus said after he had spent a minute or two silently discussing what the human had just told him. It was his life after all. Why should he let anyone else make decisions? His heart preferred the company of males, so why should he do anything else? He should try to find someone just like the human had described.

“Oh, she is,” the human answered. “I’ll be on my way then. I’m sort of on a tight schedule.”

“Thank you for your help!”

The human gave him a smile. “You’re welcome.”

Regulus went back to his village. He’d pack his stuff together, then he would tell everyone where they could shove their expectations, and then he would leave.

He would miss it, but sometimes goodbye was a second chance.


	11. Treasures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dragon!Regulus

Not many knew it, but some of the lesser known species of dragons—those so rare that they were not even included in Scamander's book—were able to disguise themselves in a humanoid form.

A good majority of them did that for a great part of their lives. Hiding among the humans was a better option than being kept in cages—no matter if those were literal or simply metaphorical. A cage was a cage.

Around the middle of the 1960s, they were forced to give up a number of their hatchlings for their own protection. Any and every child that was able to purposefully switch forms and has stopped to do it accidentally.

Rexus and Ignius—or Regulus and Sirius Black as they were now called—were two of those children and this was everything they had been able to either remember or figure out about their family history.

Safe to say, it was not even close to as much as they would have liked to know. Who were their parents? Why did they have to leave them? Why did the Blacks think they were their biological children?

Both siblings agreed that they had gotten pretty good at hiding. They had stopped to accidentally set things on fire, had stopped speaking in parseltongue when it was just the two of them talking and had even stopped to manifest their wings and fly around the ceiling.

Despite the hate for non-magicals and non-humans the Blacks were trying—and failing—to teach them, this family had been a pretty good choice of whoever had put them here.

One just needed to look at the Gringotts Vaults of the family to see that.

So much gold, silver and bronze, so many jewels, old tomes, and various other artefacts of value.

The thought alone caused their mouths to water.

The first time they had seen it, Ignius—Sirius—had actually dislocated his jaw and Rexus—Regulus—had almost started to cry of the sheer joy that at least a part of these treasures would one day be  _ his _ . Both of them had to be forcefully dragged away by the Blacks who did not want to cause a scene.

It had been slightly too late for that as far as the goblins were concerned, but Rexus had long since figured out that the magical humans rarely paid those of other species much attention—and even if they did, they usually looked down on them, as if they were something better.

One day, the other species would have enough. They would snap and wizards would be torn apart, beaten up, dragged through the mud, and turned. They would be forced to feel the same way they had made others feel. The most important thing, however, was that they would burn.

Even if Rexus himself had to do it when he was millenia old and almost ready to die. they would burn in a blazing Inferno.

At Hogwarts—neither brother had any idea how they were on the list—he met some people that made him reconsider his plans. It weren’t many, but enough that it mattered.

Those selected few that treated everyone like they had the same value as anyone else would be treasured and included in the new, better society they would build.

Ignius kept telling him that he was an idealistic doofus, but he had to be allowed to dream.


	12. Interest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dementor!Regulus

Regulus had long since discovered that humans were very different from each other—it would have been hard not to discover it after years and years on this lonely island. All of the prisoners were complex beings, yet a great many of them insisted on grouping themselves, on putting themselves into certain boxes.   
This particular habit was one the Dementor would never understand.

The humans were all so different from each other, each of them unique in their personality and experiences and they kept saying they were all the same.

But alas, Regulus was not here to understand the prisoners. He wasn’t their therapist. No, he was here to stop them from fleeing and to make them miserable.

And yet it was his interest in humans that made him request to stationed here, in the area with the highest security that held the worst of the worst. The murderers, pedofiles, and rapists. The serial killers, mass murderers, and many more.

In short, all those with the most interesting thoughts and memories were assembled here, for him to enjoy and maybe one day understand.

Regulus started his route anew. 

He always began with the pedofiles and rapists, taking care to feed from several of their memories each. Neglect, abuse, and rejection seemed to be common themes for some reason.

Then, he moved onto the Death Eaters. Those who were the origin of many worst memories of people outside these halls. Regulus delighted in feeding from them, their experiences were rarely boring and he did not need to be remorseful about making them relive the memories he was feeding from.

None of the other Dementors seemed to have the same issue based on his observation, but Regulus had never liked to feed from anyone who had not done enough horrible things to earn their own pain. he was just weird like that.

Today, there was something different. At least one new arrival, possibly more, based on the fuss the humans were making.   
Curious, Regulus glided closer and closer to the scene. He was interested enough that he did not stop when he felt the effects of the patronus; he only stopped when he absolutely had to.

“-ith the disgusting pieces of shit like you,” an auror insulted the newest inmate.   
Why were they making such a fuss over one single human? This was not normal, not even for this area of the prison.

Another weird thing was the prisoner itself. He was not screaming in protest, wasn’t taunting the aurors, wasn’t admitting defeat or anything else, really.

He simply stood there and let the aurors push him around in any way they wanted; as if he felt he deserved everything he got and more. What reason could he possibly have for that?

Regulus waited until the aurors were done insulting the prisoner and left, but then he approached the inmate.

Tentatively, he reached out and started to feed from the prisoner.

_ A young boy sitting in a big hall, opening a red letter. “HOW DARE YOU, TO LET YOURSELF BE SORTED INTO GRYFF-” _

_ A teen begging. “-n’t think he would really do it! And he was threatening all of us! I still should not have don-” _

_ A young man in unbearable pain. “-ike that, cousin? Let’s get you some more then!” _

_ Two young men talking. “-rother in every way but blood! I trust you with my life! Please, I beg you, be our Secret Keeper.” _

_ “No, I’m too obvious. No one would suspect Peter. Let me be a decoy. Another layer of secur-.” _

_ The inmate, looking almost exactly like he did now, even the same clothes, just less tired discovering the dead body of the previous man and a woman. _

_ Handing a small human over. _

_ Confronting another man. _

_ Being thrown in here. _

For the first time in his existence, Regulus recoiled from a feeding.


	13. Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Centaur!Regulus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that centaurs grow up slower than horses but faster than humans. That is why Regulus is an adult despite being eleven.

Regulus was strolling through the forest, gazing up in the sky.

Mars was bright, just as he had been for the last three months. Venus was just barely visible, as was Jupiter

War, love, and jollity.

The centaur continued his journey northward. This was his first hunt alone, he could not disappoint the herd.

He held bow and arrow in his hand, ready to shoot in a couple of seconds. He had a quiver holding as many arrows as possible around the humanoid part of his body and had placed as many bags in his reach as he could reasonably carry on a hunting trip.

Regulus should be prepared for every eventuality. He had had eleven years of training. There was no reason why this would not go over well.

He followed the footprints of a rabbit until they crossed part with four pairs of human ones.

What were humans doing in the forest? Wasn’t it forbidden to them?

That was irrelevant. He should continue on his hunting trip.

But those seemed to be children—foals—that were in danger. It had not been that long ago that he had been one himself. Not to forget the fact that his first rule of hunting was to make sure young ones did not come to harm.

Thinking of Firenze, his teacher, he decided to follow the young humans. If nothing else it would put his mind at ease before he continued his hunting trip. He might as well return to the herd right now if he decided to hunt while his mind was somewhere else; it was simply pointless.

Regulus frowned as he noticed the direction in which the human footprints were leading. No, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to go  _ there _ , would they?

They would, because they had no idea, the centaur realized, speeding up his movements.

Now that he was galloping along the path, he would soon catch up to them.

Hopefully he wasn’t too late.

He arrived just as the spiders were surrounding the four young boys who seemed to be frozen in fear. Regulus readied his bow and arrow as he hurried to get into a good position.

“Stop!” he yelled, firing his arrow into the largest one. He grabbed two arrows out of his quiver and fired them at the same time, but there was no way that he was going to win this alone; they were simply too many.

In a split second, he made a decision that would most likely result in him being thrown out of the herd should anyone see him.

He knelt down in front of the four humans.

“Get on my back. Fast!” Regulus ordered.

Finally, the humans started to move again. One by one, they climbed onto his back. Luckily, three of them were very small and light—though he should be concerned about that if they ever made it out here—so he would still be able to gallop.

“You should all hold onto the one who is sitting before you. The first one should hold onto my quiver or, preferably, me directly,” Regulus advised the young humans as he stood up. “Otherwise you might fall off.”

Hoping and begging the starts that all of them had listened to him, he galloped the same way back.

The spiders were slow. He just needed to put a distance between them and himself and the humans.

It was not long until he started to tire. He wanted to slow down, to rest, but he forced himself forward. Just a couple hundred metres more.

The centaur just barely managed to run far enough before he finally gave in and slowed down.

Regulus trotted another couple of metres before kneeling down again.   
“Thank you,” one of the boys, one with a lot of scars muttered.

The other three nodded.

The boy with high cheekbones continued. “Yes, without you we would have died. How can we ever thank you for that?” 

Regulus smiled. “Just don’t tell anyone about it.”


	14. Jokes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leprechaun!Regulus

Leprechauns were born full grown. That was pretty neat in Regulus opinion, as he did not once need to physically look up to his brother.

He was fine when it was just emotional, thank you very much.

As his mother had died during his birth—Sirius told him that this was actually a good deal, but  he refused to elaborate why—and his father had long since disappeared, it was Sirius, his older brother that taught him everything.

What he could eat and what would try to eat him if he gave it the chance. How to speak and how to make clothes out of leaves. What the best pranks and jokes were and how to conjure their gold.

His older brother had taught him anything and everything.

Today the two of them were trying to prank a group of campers. It was the first real prank the two of them would play together, so Regulus was very excited.

The Black brothers sneaked closer and closer to the camp. Both their small size of barely fifteen centimetres and their skin colour—green—proved to be really helpful for this endeavour.

Slowly but surely, they made their way through the camp, careful not to be noticed, not to be seen.

“-s so close, I swear!” The dark haired human held his fingers together so that they were almost touching.

“You’re exaggerating, James.” The scarred male laughed and shook his head. “That bludger was at least half a metre away from your head.”

The redheaded female and the rounder boy nodded in agreement.

“It’s moved to your head closer each time you told the tale, Prongs, but that doesn’t make it true.” The round boy chuckled.

“...Okay, so maybe you’re right,” the dark haired one—Prongs? James?—acknowledged, “but that does not make it any less awesome!”

The female giggled. “Of course not, you doofus. Just less life threatening.”

Sirius motioned for him to move forward.   
Gathering all his bravery, Regulus moved closer to the humans who—as he had just realized—could very easily kill him.

But he quickly moved forward, head held high.

Once he had crossed the distance, he hid beneath a human object he could not even dream of being able to identify and conjured a golden coin.

He did not receive any reaction. Perhaps they hadn’t noticed it. Surely a  second coin would help out.

It didn’t. Neither did the third or the fourth.

He cursed in frustration.

“Hang on Prongs, I’m sure what you are about to say it really interesting, but did you hear that?”

Oh, so now they reacted!

“No, what are you talking about, Moony?”

“I heard it too,” the last male, the one closest to him, stated. “It almost sounded like there was someone cursing behind the picnic basket.”

“Really? I’ll go and check if you’re so worried.” It sounded like it was the dark haired one who said that and there was some shuffling that indicated he was really moving.

No, no, nononononono! That did not sound good for him. He needed to get away, to find another place to hide, but there was no option.

Accepting his fate, Regulus stared where he was and just hoped that Sirius would not be close enough in time.

A dark shadow loomed over him.

“Ah, it’s just a leprechaun trying to be funny.”

“Excuse you? Trying? I’ll have you know that my brother's jokes are excellent, thank you very much.” Sirius yelled in protest, but Regulus would have preferred it if his brother hadn’t.

The female had moved over towards them and bend down. She frowned. “Are you supposed to be that thin?”

Perplexed, the brothers looked themselves down. They were indeed rather thin.

The female must somehow have sensed their thoughts, because she introduced herself (Lily) and her companions (James, Remus, Peter) and invited the brother to join them.

She was an odd human.


	15. Keepsake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wicked Wizard!Regulus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **READ THIS PLEASE:** This one is pretty dark and deserves a **higher rating** , but I do not want to rate the entire thing mature because of this. Be warned!

Regulus Black was not evil, despite everyone else saying the exact opposite.

He was protecting their world.

He was saving it.

Too many people had been close to finding out about their world and you knew that they would  tell everyone they knew the second they had put everything together.

Apparently no one else cared, but Regulus Black could not and would not let that happen.

So he tracked any and all of them down, one by one and got rid of them; it was as easy as that.

His current case were Melissa and Justin MacDonald.

They were muggles, but their daughter, Mary, had been a witch.

Regulus would track them, find them and they would tell them the names of everyone that had found out through them.

There always was someone, even if they always claimed there wasn’t anyone. A sibling, an uncle, grandparents, someone along those lines.

He had found their house, a simple townhouse in the outskirts of London. A little front yard full of flowers and everything.

Regulus entered the home as if he owned it. A simple charm revealed that Mary was not here.

Good, he always hated it when he had to visit a house several times. It made him feel strangely incompetent and he did not like that.

The only two people in the house were Melissa and Justin. They were currently having breakfast at their kitchen table.

Well, it was about to be interrupted.

“A beautiful day, isn’t it?” Regulus said, calling attention to himself. He was leaning in the doorway and carefully sharpening his dagger. He had learned early on, that to muggles, that thing was just so much scarier than a wand.

They were naive like that. Thing had to be all sharp and pointy to hurt them. Or be able to shool small, metal projectiles in their direction. Or heavy and handy, thus easy to swing and use to kill.

Regulus used the daggers, as they were an old family heirloom. He switched them out every couple of mission.

And, just as he had predicted, the eyes of Melissa and Justin were focused on the dagger. He would not even needed to bother covering his face, they were just ignoring him.

Regulus grinned at them. “So, here’s what we're going to do now. I am going to ask you a question and every time you knowingly answer wrong, I am going to shoot a spell at you. I’m starting pretty close to harmless, but it will get worse every time. The same thing happens if you do something I don’t like. Any questions?”

Melissa shook her head.

He hid he with a stinging jinx.

“That was a lie,” he deadpanned. “You have a lot of questions. Who are you? What are you doing here? What have we done to earn this? Can we ask for help?” He shot a spell at her with each question he asked in her place.

“And you, Justin?”

“O-only those you mentioned s-so far.”

A Cruciatus.

Regulus laughed at the screams.

“Another lie. You are still wondering what sort of questions I want to ask you and how your chances at getting out of this alive are. But don’t worry. We will start now.”

* * *

Regulus charmed the blood off his hands and clothes and removed all the fingerprints or other evidence he had left behind.

Then, he strolled through the house again.   
He was still missing his keepsake.   
He always had a keepsake.

People kept saying Regulus was evil, but he really wasn’t. He was just looking out for himself.


	16. Attention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Siren!Regulus

Regulus was lying on a couple of stones that reached over the surface, enjoying the sun and singing a soft melody to himself.

He loved singing, but he hated the attention it gave him and the consequences resulting from it.

The pains of being a siren.

Even the other sirens had given him a lot of unwanted attention expressed in ways he absolutely despised.

He had yet to stop shuddering at the memories.

But Regulus had figured out a way around it. He only sang when he was completely alone, with no other soul in sight.

It was better than nothing.

Consequently, he spent as much time away from everyone else as possible. Because of this, he had gotten quite the reputation as a loner.

That made caused some fun times.

Regulus started to sing. It always distracted him from his worries, as he was able to lose himself in the tunes and melodies and forget his troubles for a while.

Staring off into nothingness, Regulus sang for what must have been hours.

When he finally stopped, he hear applause.

Regulus flinched and instantly dived underwater.

“Hey, no! Wait!,” he heard a voice behind him.

Regulus had always been a slow swimmer, so the owner of the voice was able to catch up with him in almost no time.

“I don’t know why you’re hiding, that was very beautiful. You shouldn’t need to avoid the others, that only makes them think that you either don’t like them or are embarrassed by your singing voice.”

“I see you’ve heard of me,” Regulus noted.

“Only vaguely,” the other siren confessed. “My parents and I have moved around the seven seas quite a lot and we’ve only been here a couple of days.”

“Why are you here then? You must have heard the others talking by now.”

“I did, indeed.” The other siren grimaced. “But they weren’t very nice things. I’ve come here to make up my own mind about you. I’m Remus, by the way.” He held out his scaled hand.

Tentatively, Regulus reached out with his own hand and took it, noticing the light brown webs between Remus’ fingers. The contrast between them and the jet-black of his own might not have been extreme, but it felt like it.

“Regulus.”

For a minute, the two of them just swam there silently, surrounded by various fish neither of them cared enough about to bother identifying them; too busy to look at each other.

“Soo,” Remus said eventually, scratching the back of his head. “Do you want to do something else? Because everyone else has been kind of rude since I arrived here and you’re fins down the nicest siren I met so far. but I wouldn’t want to disturb you or keep you from doing anything….” Remus trailed off.

Was he blushing? He kind of looked like he was blushing.

“Sure,” Regulus agreed, giving his new friend a big smile and took a small risk. “It’s a date then.”

“Alright.” Remus nodded, his head turning redder and redder every second.

Regulus decided that he did not mind this kind of attention.


	17. Narcissism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fairy!Regulus

Forget whatever you think you know about fairies for a minute, because whatever you think you know based on muggle stories is wrong.

They can’t speak like humans. They converse through summing.

They don’t live in small homes made of flowers. They sleep in holes of trees, but they do not really live anywhere.

They don’t have tiny wands, though granted they do have weak magical abilities, but they exclusively use them to defend themselves from their natural enemies. Not for whatever it is those silly stories tell you.

They are narcissistic little bastards and they’re damn well proud of it.

Regulus was no exception to that rule.

It wasn’t even really a rule. It was more of a law of nature.

Fairy society was highly complex, especially when compared to the version the magical humans had thought up.

It had to be, because otherwise their entire species would have ended centuries ago.

But that didn’t really matter to Regulus right now.

He was flying through the woods and his turquoise wings were a beautiful contrast to the trees and bushes. At least he thought that and he would fight anyone who disagreed.

Almost dancing, the fairy moves through the forest.

Regulus did not actually have any particular reason for it, but he felt like doing so. He did not need any other reason to do anything, really. Why would anyone need any other reason to do anything?

The fairy slowed down when he heard something he had never heard before.

It sounded like there was someone thinking out loud, but there were several reasons why it could not be anyone he knew. He didn’t recognize the voice, for one. They weren’t summing, they were...speaking? Was that what they called it? And another thing was that the person making the noise had to be a lot larger than his eleven centimetres and he was one of the tallest fairies around!

Regulus decided to investigate. He would not have anyone tell him that he made this up because of the lack of details. That simply would not do.

The fairy moved closer to the origin of the noise.

“-show him. I’ll show all of them! I will prove them wrong.”

It was a redheaded girl that seemed to be just old enough to be allowed to wander around without someone else—provided humans had a similar classification for that as his people did. How was he to know whether or not that was the case?

Regulus moved closer towards the human.

“How dare he say that I’m not worth as much just a much as they are! I will show them and I...oh, hello.”

She had noticed him.

He greeted her, too

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’m just frustrated. My name is Lily, by the way.”

After a few seconds of consideration, the fairy flew a couple of metres into her direction—there was only one between them now—and introduced himself.

Lily studied him intensively for a moment or two.

“You’re really pretty, you know.”

Regulus beamed at her. “Thank you! But, you know, I actually prefer handsome.”

The human frowned in confusion. “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. Can you understand me?”

Regulus nodded.   
“Do you think you can teach me your language?”

He agreed. If nothing else, this would give him an admirer on his very own.


	18. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Troll!Regulus

Regu was lost.

He had no idea where he had come from or which way to go.

This was not good.

He walked in a circle.

It did not help.

No idea where he had come from.

No idea where to go.

No help in sight.

He was lost.

The forest troll was well and truly, completely and utterly, lost.

And worst of all, he was alone.

He grunted in frustration, slowly moving his pale green hand through his thin hair at the same time.

He wanted to go home.

Regu might have only been gone for a couple of hours, but he missed his brother, Rius, and some of the other members in his clan.

Erus, Mes, Eter, Remu, and Illy, to be precise.

They were the ones that had helped them and stood by their side when the parents of Rius and Regu had vanished.

If only he had not seen that stupid boar, had not been hungry or had taken someone with him.

Then he would not be in this situation.

The second worst thing was, he had not even gotten that boar. He was still hungry.

At least he had managed to hurt it.

Regu scanned the area another time, hoping to find some sign of where he had come from.

His footprints. He could follow his footprints! Surely they would lead him back home!

The forest troll hurried towards the path in question. There was no one else here, these footprints had to be from him.

And maybe, if he was really lucky, he would even to catch something on the way.

Step for step he went back the way he had come, going in needless circles and unnecessary curves all the time. The boar that tried to shake him off all the time.

It had eventually managed it when Regu had ran into a tree.

The tree had not survived that encounter and the boar was gone in the time it took Regu to sit up and collect himself.

The path of his footprints lead him through valleys and clearings he had not noticed earlier. Now that he took the time to appreciate it, it was really beautiful. The way the sun shone through the trees, the smell of the grass and the sound of the birds worked together quite well.

The, suddenly, the forest troll saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

He turned around. Was that the boar from earlier? It did have the same wound Regu had given it.

He grinned as he stomped over to the spot where it must have fallen down.

It was indeed lying there, slowly dying from the blood that it had lost over time.

Regu places his club on the boars head for a second and leaned on it.

The boar was dead and the forest troll picked it up and slung it over his shoulder.

Pulling a bit of the flesh off e the body every couple of minutes, he continued his journey home.

He was no longer hungry and soon, he would no longer be alone and lost.


	19. Omen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demon!Regulus with a nod to Supernatural

Regulus had to admit that he quite liked his current vessel. he had picked it up all the way back in Lutetia—or Paris, as it was currently called.

The man had been a fisherman and had made a deal for his family. Regulus did not remember what exactly, but it wasn’t like it mattered or anything.

He felt the familiar tugging of a summoning. Thankfully not one of the kind that forced him to go there, just someone that wanted to make a crossroads deal.

It was a natural born wizard. How interesting.

Regulus quickly teleported there, before any other crossroad demon could arrive before him. This was already too good to let go.

A deal with a natural born would make his rank increase quite a bit. Not enough to even come close to Crowley (he had secured the deal of the millennium with that painter and there was no use in trying to top it), but it was something.

Upon his arrival, he was surprised to see the physical similarities between his vessel and the natural born. Perhaps the guy was a descendant of his vessel, perhaps it was just a coincidence; he would not bother to find out, but it most certainly was not a bad omen though.

“Hello there,” the demon drawled.

Uhm, hello,” the man scratched the back of his head. “Are you a demon?”

Regulus sighed. “Obviously.”

“I...I was sort of expecting-”

“A good looking young woman?” Regulus interrupted, leaning his head to his side.

The human nodded with some hesitation.

The demon took a step towards him. “The usual human with the intention of making a deal would most likely have encountered a demon wearing a meat suit of that kind,” he admitted while judging the human from head to toes. “ _ You _ , however, are special.”

The human swallowed. “Why?”

“Because you’re a natural born of course,” he answered in a tone that was almost playful and childlike. “From an old, dark family I guess, based on the fact that you knew what to do to get my attention.”

The human nodded again. “About as dark as you can get, even in name.”

Regulus copied the gesture. “So, why am I here? What do you want? Sex, drugs ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll seems to apply to you already, but what else could it be? Power, be it magical or political? Influence? Love, perhaps?” Regulus snorted at the suggestion.

“In a sense,” the human replied.

“Elaborate,” the demon ordered.

“I need my godson to be protected from Lord Voldemort at all costs. And if that means selling my soul then so be it.” The conviction in his voice was truly surprising.

He raised a single eyebrow. It should not have been that easy, but it seemed like a good omen for his future career.

“Ten years against the protection of your godson? That’s a sure deal, just don’t expect me to be the one to look after the brat.”

The man’s face flooded with relief. Had he expected something different? They only refused someone on very rare occasions.

They just needed to seal the deal.


	20. Value

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel!Regulus with nods to Merlin, Supernatural, Doctor Who and Good Omens

Reguel had orders from Michael himself to find the leader of his garrison, Gabriel, who had not returned from eir mission from earth.

The angel also knew that this would not end well. Either someone had captured Gabriel or ey had left on purpose. There was no easy way out of it. It had no point, no value, to try to talk Gabriel out of something.

Reguel started his search in the region where his superior’s mission had taken place: Mecca.

It didn’t take teh angel long to figure out that Gabriel was no longer here. He had been here—that much was more than obvious—but he must have left before Reguel arrived.

There was no other option but to search the entire planet—or worse, universe—for him. Slowly and manually—at least by the standards of an angel. The humans of this time would have found it impossible fast.

He had been able to rule out most continents and most islands within a week. Some, like Antarctica, were rules out pretty quickly while others, like that one continent he was not sure of the name—it was America according to Heaven’s library and a bunch of other names according to the locals—took longer.

Only Europe was left now. It was quite different and diverse, but then again, so was every other continent. Except for Antarctica. Antarctica was just boring like that.

After carefully searching through the rest of the continent, Reguel moved onto Scandinavia. he found some traces of his superior, his leader, his older brother and—with quite some digging—managed to connect them to the pagan god Loki.

To say that both of them were surprised by the meeting would be an understatement.

Just as Reguel had predicted, Gabriel could not be convinced to return to the Host. Ey were sick of the fighting. It was quite understandable, really.

Reguel could say the same, if he was being honest.

So he joined the archangel in his very own witness protection.

Reguel fled to an area that would later be called Britain—once it united with a couple of others. Currently, however, it was called Camelot.

The angel carefully crafted himself a false identity—or rather, he chose his new vessel only after putting quite a lot of thought into it.

A pregnant woman named Hunith allowed him to enter the body of her and, consequently, her child once he had explained to her that he would not be replacing the child, but rather merging with it and thus drastically increasing its chance for survival.

A couple of month later, Hunith named the child after a bird that had cried the very second her babe had been born—a Merlin.

Merlin lived a lifetime filled in equal parts with joy, pain, anguish, and happiness. Not an easy life—how would that happen, with the constant threat of death hanging over his head—but a good one. One with a great family of choice—Gaius, Elyan, Percival, Gwaine, Lancelot, Leon, Guinevere,  _ Arthur _ —and many adventures.Merlin even managed to reach his biggest dream after a decade or so—which, for some reason, didn’t feel like that much time.

The only thing was, that the lifetime never stopped. Everyone around him died, but Merlin did not. So he set himself new goals in life.

Somewhere down the line, an odd tradition was established. Merlin would meet up and drink tea with the Norse god Loki, a demon named Crowley, an angel named Aziraphale, and an alien that called himself the Doctor. Merlin did not know how that happened, but he looked forward to the meetings every time. They added so much more value to his life.


	21. Urge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Incubus!Regulus

Life was not exactly a walk in the park for Regulus.

Well, he supposed it wasn’t really easy for anyone, but that did not truly matter right now. he was hungry.

The problem being that Regulus was an Incubus and thus relied on sexual acts to feed him. Consensual ones only, even if literally every single tale about this species told another story.

Yeah, he’d say knew the truth just a little better than them.

Back to his problem. He was all alone, following a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. Already too weak to teleport or  walk into dreams.

The Incubus silently cursed his past self. Why hadn’t he done something against this hunger earlier?

Because the person he had had in mind had turned out to be a sex-repulsed asexual, that’s why. That didn’t really work out for a consensual sexual act, so he needed to find someone else as quickly as possible.

He didn’t even necessarily need a full feeding, just a small bit, just enough to find someone else, somewhere.

Provided he managed to survive that long.

Regulus continued to follow the road, hoping to see anything appear on the horizon with every single step. So far it had not worked out.

Every step proved to be harder than the one before; it could not be long until he would collapse, but he needed to get to the city.

Then, he heard a strange pop behind him. Regulus spun around.

“I must confess, I was not expecting to see anyone here,” the tall, dark haired man said. If Regulus were to ignore the crooked nose and the hair he’d actually be quite attractive.

And given how exhausted the incubus was he was ready to ignore just about everything.

“Well, I hoped and prayed for it,” he replied honestly. “May I ask why you are here?”

The human shook his head forcefully and glared at him. “No, you may not.”

“That’s alright, I guess. It’s not like it’s my business or anything.” He shrugged.

The human took a few seconds to process what Regulus had just said, before frowning. “Are you being sarcastic?”

He had not expected that, but he could see his statement being interpreted as such. “What? No, I’m just kinda...hungry...and exhausted.”

“Were you robbed or something?” The human himself seemed to be surprised by his question.

“Not exactly,” the incubus answered slowly.

“What could you possibly mean with that?”

“As you may or may not have noticed—I can never tell with you wizards—that I am not human.” Regulus did not know why he did it, but he told the stranger exactly what happened.

Okay, he was lying to himself. He knew exactly why he was doing this and what he hoped to get out of it.

He somehow convinced the human, Severus Snape, to help him. Neither of them remembered how or when, but the human agreed to feed Regulus.

Of course the incubus had to give something in return.

So he helped Severus with a certain agenda of his.


	22. Quantum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time Lord!Regulus

Time was a weird thing, but that was just good for his business, because he was the only one that did it.

Assassinations across all of time and space. Everyone in the shadier corners of the universe knew of him—the Professor.

Of course that wasn’t really his name, but it fit into the theme the other survivors of the Last War—because really, was there a better name for it?—had created. Doctor, Master,  _ Professor. _

Also it had a nice ring to it.

His real name was one of the most well-guarded secrets in the universe; not only because the Professor had not used that name for such a long time that he forgot it himself.

He had been younger than the other two had been during the War, had only been just turned two hundred years when it ended. Just a kid, caught up in a war.

Was it really a wonder that he turned out like this?

The Professor stepped into his TARDIS, currently in the shape of a wardrobe just because.

Today—well, for him—would be an important day. John F. Kennedy, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. He tended to group planets 

Of course, the Professor knew his history—and not only Gallifreyan, but across most planets of the universe that were inhabited by intelligent life. He knew of John Wilkes Booth and the other ones that had been blamed. He knew the dates.

Making it work without causing a paradox was one of the fun parts of his job.

That, and travelling with the TARDIS, because the Doctor was right, it was way more fun if you deactivate a few things.

And given his occupation he could not exactly say that he followed other rules. To him, they were unnecessary,  vague outlines at best.

His first jobs of today were done without any notable incident, but that changed when he got to Kennedy.   
And old Lady wearing a headscarf had caught him on camera. That simply would not do.

So he took her with him. His TARDIS was in the form of a wristwatch at that moment—the physics behind this were several millennia beyond the current understanding of humans—so the Professor simply appeared behind her and snatched her right of the street.

It was honestly kind of sad that not one person noticed for a while, but he supposed the citizens of Dallas could be excused— _ someone _ had just shot their beloved president after all.

As for the old woman….

Let’s just say that the Professor had a lot of fun with her after he had thrown the pictures she had taken into a supernova—the very same one the Doctor had ‘lost’ his handbook in, just because a) he could and b) he loved the irony.

He enjoyed playing with the woman a lot. Her screams were simply delightful when the Professor took her to various planets to show her the true horrors of the universe. Of course that was just the very beginning of what he did, where would the fun be otherwise?


	23. Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genie!Regulus

Regulus threw the ball to the wall of his lamp.

“Seven billion three hundred and seventy million five hundred twenty six thousand seven hundred thirty two.”

He caught it with his green hands and threw it again.

“Seven billion three hundred and seventy million five hundred twenty six thousand seven hundred thirty three.”

The same process continued for a while until he felt it.

Someone had finally found his lamp! He would finally see something other than the inside of his lamp again!

The last couple thousand years had been quite boring. The genie wondered what had happened with his lamp that it took so long, surely that must have been three thousand at minimum.

Briefly transforming into a whirl of green smoke, he left. His. Lamp.

Once he was out of it—it was about time for that, too—he returned his upper body into a humanoid form.

His Master turned out to be a small child—maybe it was still a toddler, Regulus was not the best in such things. That promised to be an adventure.

Well, better than not leaving the lamp at all.

The child's eyes were large and his jaw was threatening to fall of his mouth.

“Master,” Regulus greeted, putting his hands together in front of his bare breast and bowing slightly.

“Wow! You're green! That's so cool!” The child realized, before frowning. “But my name isn't Master. It's Sirius.”

“That may be the case, Master, but the Rules of the Lamp require me to address you as such.”

The child was quiet for a few seconds, obviously trying to understand what the genie had just said.

“I'm sorry, but what does that mean?”

Regulus transformed his lower body to human legs and sat down in the air as he explained the rules in every detail to the child whose eyes seemed to grow bigger every second.

“So I have three wishes.”

“Yes.”

“And you will grant them.”

“Indeed.”

“No matter what I wish for?” the child confirmed.

“Exactly,” Regulus praised.

“That's cool!” Sirius exclaimed. Then, a thought occurred to him. “Do I have to use them now?”

Regulus was stunned. Something like this had never happened before, but it presented an exciting prospect: he might be outside of his lamp for more than a couple of hours. Maybe even—dare he dream it—years.

“I suppose there is no rule against it. May I ask you why, Master?”

“Because I only know one right now and I don't know what I will want when I am older,” the child reasoned fairly well.

“What is your first wish then?” Regulus questioned, taking note of that particular detail.

“I wish that you were my brother. I don't care if younger or older, but it's so lonely here without anyone else to play!” The child—Sirius—threw his arms into the air.

“Your wish is my command,” Regulus replied.

Reality shifted and he found himself in the form of a human newborn, his memories slowly escaping his grasp and fading away until he only remembered two things:   
He was more than the average wizard.

And, more importantly, he was the brother of Sirius Black.


	24. Zenith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God!Regulus from a pantheon I made up as I was writing this.

Regulus looked down to the earth. Well, ey—because gender was way below em the other gods—didn’t really ‘look down’ per se; it was a tad more metaphorical than that. After all, ey possessed neither eyes nor any other part of a physical body that would be needed for such an action.

But alas, there were more important issues that needed the god’s attention right now. For example, the near ridiculous levels of hubris some humans on the planet had somehow managed to reach.

Regulus could get arrogance to a certain point, but what those people—British wizards from long lines of like-minded people with less power each generation—did not even have any reason to feel this.

And the worst thing was that the opposing side wasn’t really any better in that sense, especially not their foolish leader that everyone else seemed to be following like he was a member of eir pantheon.

It was incredibly ineffable. Something had to be done about it, and really, who would be better suited for the task than em? The god of Humility—though admittedly, ey, too, had needed a lesson or two (or twelve) on this one—Duty, and—most importantly in this particular scenario— _ Magic _ .

So, the god descended down towards the earth in a pillar of light, nearly blinding everyone when ey arrived at the current headquarters of Tom Marvolo Riddle and his stupid, arrogant, little followers.

That, however, was part of the plan. Because really, first impressions were  _ everything _ .

That was also large part of the reason why ey did not shrink down any more than absolutely necessary, instead choosing to stand a bit more than five metres tall, and thus way smaller than ey could have been.

When ey spoke, ey didn’t just speak with one voice like those silly little humans, oh no.  _ Ey _ spoke with dozens—if not hundreds upon thousands—of voices, all originating from the mouth of the little physical—and thus incredibly restricting—shell that contained less than half of eir essence.

“ **HOW DARE YOU** ,” ey boomed, causing the vast majority of the assembled wizards and witches to do everything from flinching to making a mess of the lower half of their robes. Embarrassing. “ **TO MISUSE THE GIFT** ** _I_** **HAVE GRANTED YOUR ANCESTORS WITH IN SUCH A WAY! ATTACKING THE ONES** ** _I_** **, PERSONALLY, GIFTED AND THE DEFENSELESS!** ”

Their leader—the most foolish out of all of them—tried to contradict em. Saying laughable things such as the ‘fact’ that it was impossible for Regulus to be a god and that they were following the ‘noble’ quest of his ancestor. There was not a single reason for him to continue speaking; let alone existing.

“ **QUIET, LITTLE HUMAN! DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM?** **_I_ ** **AM REGULUS THE KING OF THE BALEANS, GOD OF HUMILITY, DUTY, AND MAGIC! YOU HAVE ABUSED MY GIFT AND I HAVE DECIDED TO RID ALL OF YOU OF MY SPECIAL ABILITIES! SO MORE IT BE!** ”

Of course, the last part was not strictly necessary, it was all for the effect.

A bright flash, a loud boom, and all of the human fell down on their knees in pain as their magic left every single cell of their bodies, one by one.

Ey had done their job here, Time for the next stop: the British Ministry of Magic.


	25. Xylem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alien!Regulus from a race I made up as I was writing this.

Lijux—or Earth—was very beautiful, Suluger supposed, but his home planet was way better in his opinion. Nothing could be compared to Xylem—the natives here seemed to call it ’Mars’ for some reason.

Oh, how he wished he could stay there, but it was impossible.

Suluger simply could not remain on his home planet any longer. Too many of his friends and family had been hunted and killed for no reason at all.

He had to get away.

Lijux—Earth, he meant Earth—was the easiest choice by far. It was in the same solar system, already had intelligent life that even looked somewhat like the Griedians—only a bit shorter, not purple, and with less eyes and arms—and he was able to survive on it. What more did he need?

Apart from his friends, family, and everyone else he had ever known. He even missed Suicul and he had always hated that man.

Suluger shook his head, closed his eight eyes and wrapped his arms around himself—all six of them.

He needed to get rid of these thoughts. He was starting a new life on Lijux—on  _ Earth _ —there was no room for memories of Xylem— _ Mars _ .

The planets were called Earth and Mars. They rotated around the Sun—not Cajul,  _ not Cajul _ —and there were a total of eight planets and four dwarf planets—not twelve planets.

Now Suluger just needed to remember that.

If only it were that easy.

He just knew that he would slip up several times, thus causing him to be relocated—whether by choice or by force—an absolute minimum of twice. And he could not for one second remove his arms from his body—which would totally distort his figure—change his haircut—they managed to find one that covered six of his eyes—or let go of the machine that would make his skin look like an appropriate colour for Earth—look! He remembered!.

At least his grey eyes were human enough and he had been allowed to pretend he had colored his green hair. And for one he was thankful low average height for a Griedian as he was still able to pass for a tall human.

Suluger had requested a room without any windows in his new home, so that at least in there he could be completely himself and—to his immense delight—it had been granted.

The Griedian spent as much time as possible in that small room, looking at the memories of his life on Xylem.

Perhaps that was not exactly healthy, but it was not like he had any particular reason to care. It wasn’t like he had anything or anyone left at all.

At least not until he suddenly heard the bell of his house ringing. Why would anyone be here? Had he done something wrong?

He quickly placed his machine on his wrist again and moved towards the door to open it.

In front of it was a man just mere centimetres taller than him with a similar haircut and an identical machine around his wrist. “Hello, brother.”

“Suiris! I can’t believe it!”

With a huge smile, Suluger dragged his brother back to his room where both of them freed their arms and hugged as long as they could.


	26. Yelp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boggart!Regulus

Regulus liked his small spaces. They were a good place to hide for the smoke-like creature.

Well, right now smoke-like. At another point of time he might be a clown or a spider or even a mummy.

He liked being a mummy. That was always funny. Regulus liked fun, but he hated laughter.

Laughter was terrible, for him at least. It never failed to hurt him.

How he wished he was literally anything but this. Why couldn’t he be a human, a vampire or  _ anything _ but a boggart? Why did the universe curse him with this burden?

Regulus sighed. There was no point in wallowing in self pity. He curled his smoke-y form in a corner of the drawer he had chosen. It was really comfy, just like he preferred.

Maybe this time he could have some time alone before he was discovered. He always was, but with some luck that might take hours or even days.

Then again, he rarely had luck so what exactly was he expecting at this point? Undisturbed peace and quiet were a dream for him—and his kind did not even sleep!

He just wanted to be alone.

Only, not really.

Regulus would have loved some company, but his nature forbid it. Why would anyone befriend something—yes, he thought of himself as something, not someone—that turned into their worst fear?

He would not want that himself and saw no reason why anyone else would.

The smoke-like creature curled further in his corner.

Yes, he was  _ definitely _ not wallowing in self pity right now. It had worked out quite well.

Regulus was lying to himself.

Not long after that, he heard some muffled voices from outside the desk.

So much for peace and quiet. Was he really requesting that much?

The drawer was opened once a couple of minutes had gone past—it sounded like a lesson. Was he in a lesson?—and he turned into a spider, the greatest fear of the one closest to him.

He hated spiders and consequently despised turning into one.

For once, he was glad when he was forced to transform into something else. A banshee.

Those things were loud. Too loud for Regulus to like them, but certainly better than spiders.

The students—they had to be—took turns and Regulus was a corpse, an illusion of a cliff—and that was very weird—a bee, a guy with an axe, and several other things.

Then, two people stepped forward as once.

The one on the left feared slugs, the one on the right loosing body parts.

Regulus turned into half a slug.

This wasn't even close to the best idea he had had in his existence, but at least it caused the young humans to laugh enough to enable him to leave.

One day, he would figure out why he could not do that without laughter.

One day, he would find a space to hide for the rest of his existence—however long that might be.

One day, he would finally stop making other beings afraid.

That day might be in the far future, but it would come; one day.


End file.
